9-Ball Gurus, How About This Tricky Rack?
- Thread starter sjm
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I just got back from the ph and I practiced this out. Luckily, I broke the 7/8 with the first shot. Another shot might be to draw the cb off the 1 down the table along the same rail and make the 9. Depends how comfortable you are with the shot. You won't come out much worse than Leonardo did if you hit it good and with enough speed.
I haven't actually tried the shot yet, but I think it's going to be easier to use follow and maybe right english to hug the cushion on the way to the nine.kyle said:
Bravo to all who participated. I can tell that when I address you all as 9-ball gurus, I'm right on the mark. The quality of the analysis in this thread was excellent. On this occasion, I didn't go to the source, as I have done so many times over the years. First of all, though I kinow the vast majority of the male professionals, I don't know Andam. On the bright side, I was sitting next to Jose Parica, with whom I had a side bet on the match, so I can offer you his slant on it.
Like most of you, Parica agreed with Andam's choice for the breakout, as it represented the surest way of creating a shot on the seven. But even Jose didn't see what was coming next. His prediction was that Andam would play a very slow kick into the seven off of the long rail, noting it probably wouldn't give up anything. He did note that it would be best to catch the short rail before the seven (which, as noted in the first post in this thread, was not frozen to the bottom rail,) to ensure not leaving a table-length or multi-rail carom off the seven into the nine. Though he saw some merit to thinning the seven and sending the cue ball uptable, he felt that this would usually leave some kind of carom off the seven into the nine, as the speed would always be enough to separate the seven from the eight. To me, it seemed that the resulting carom would be super-tough, but Jose felt that Andam would most likely be up to it.
To my surprise and Parica's, too, Andam hit the seven almost as full as he could (slightly more than a quarter ball hit) with high left and sent the cue ball to the bottom rail, then the long rail, and it curved back into the nine for the win.
I believe Rodd was the only one who realized that this shot was available, noting that it's derived from a fairly common shot in three cushion billiards. I guess Bob Jewett is right, three cushion gives you some extra insights into what the cue ball is capable of doing! Since that day, I've practiced and become pretty good at that shot. But that day was the first time I ever saw it.
As always, feedback on whether you enjoyed the thread is welcomed. Oh, one last thing. I lost that side bet to Parica.
Like most of you, Parica agreed with Andam's choice for the breakout, as it represented the surest way of creating a shot on the seven. But even Jose didn't see what was coming next. His prediction was that Andam would play a very slow kick into the seven off of the long rail, noting it probably wouldn't give up anything. He did note that it would be best to catch the short rail before the seven (which, as noted in the first post in this thread, was not frozen to the bottom rail,) to ensure not leaving a table-length or multi-rail carom off the seven into the nine. Though he saw some merit to thinning the seven and sending the cue ball uptable, he felt that this would usually leave some kind of carom off the seven into the nine, as the speed would always be enough to separate the seven from the eight. To me, it seemed that the resulting carom would be super-tough, but Jose felt that Andam would most likely be up to it.
To my surprise and Parica's, too, Andam hit the seven almost as full as he could (slightly more than a quarter ball hit) with high left and sent the cue ball to the bottom rail, then the long rail, and it curved back into the nine for the win.
I believe Rodd was the only one who realized that this shot was available, noting that it's derived from a fairly common shot in three cushion billiards. I guess Bob Jewett is right, three cushion gives you some extra insights into what the cue ball is capable of doing! Since that day, I've practiced and become pretty good at that shot. But that day was the first time I ever saw it.
As always, feedback on whether you enjoyed the thread is welcomed. Oh, one last thing. I lost that side bet to Parica.
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Great thread!!! sjm, I hope you keep doing these - they're wonderfully entertaining (and enlightening).